Many of the ecosystem, economic and social aspects and issues as examined above reflect the importance of understanding and managing the interactions between ecosystems and human systems. Until recently biologists were more concerned with conservation of species and the health and viability of ecosystems. Economists, in turn, tended to be more interested in natural resources as inputs to economic activity, often ignoring the fundamental aspects of biology. Government policy tended to focus on regulatory approaches (Clark, 1989; Hall, 1995). Although the social dimensions are considered equally important, the analytical and theoretical underpinnings are not well developed (Lehtonen, 2004).
While it is important to understand the dynamic relationships within the individual environmental, economic and social dimensions, it is also important to understand the complex relationships, interdependencies and interlinkages between them. Charles (2001) presents these relationships in terms of bio-economic, socio-economic, and biosocioeconomic models. According to Charles (2001 pp. 246-249) bio-economic models in the fishery system include the biological aspects relating to the fish resource, and the economic elements that shape human behaviour in harvesting fish, and these fall into two classes behavioural and optimisation. The behavioural approach is used to explain and predict fishery and fisher dynamics, and used as a tool to examine development and management scenarios. The optimisation approach is used to determine optimal management or development strategies, given a set of specified objectives.
The socio-economic model includes demographic, socio-cultural, economic and institutional aspects. For example:
• how the demographic aspects of the fishery system, such as participation by age and gender, interact with external influences at the national level;
• it also attempts to assess how the socio-cultural aspects (culture, history, tradition) of society impact on decision-making in the fishery system, and how those outside the fishery have power over internal fishery choices;
• how the local fishery economy interacts with the economic structure and dynamics at the regional and national level;
• how the economic inputs (labour and capital) into the fishery are affected by the broader economic environment; and
• how the institutional aspects in terms of local fishery objectives relate to the broader regional and national policy goals; and how the local institutional structure interacts with institutions, legal arrangements, legislation and policy frameworks at the national and/or sub-national levels (Charles, 2001 p. 67). A biosocioeconomic model integrates the biological, economic and social structure and dynamics of a fishery system within a systematic framework, and may include the bio- economic components such as fish populations dynamics and the capital dynamics of fishing fleets; the behaviour and dynamics of fishers and fishing communities; together with the range of societal objectives such as conservation, income generation,
employment and community stability (Charles, 2001 pp. 247-248).
On the basis of the preceding reviews and discussions presented in this Chapter, the biosocioeconomic ecosystems and human subsystems of the model, have been further developed as presented in Figure 3.6 below. A set of environmental, economic and social descriptive frameworks that underpin the biosocioeconomic dimensions have alse been developed. These provide an understanding of the individual environmental, economic and social dimensions, components, characteristics and key drivers, and a descriptive framework that can be used to develop a profile of a particular fishery at the local level, or fisheries more generally at the national or regional levels. These were presented in tables 3.5.2a, 3.5.2b, 3.5.3 and 3.5.4 above.
The model highlights the complexity of the biosocioeconomic dimensions, and the different spatial and temporal scales at which the ecosystems and human systems operate. Uncertainty is a result of the dynamic interactions, both within and between the ecosystems and human subsystems.
3.7 Summary
As the impacts of human activities on the planet increase, it will require a system of governance and management that avoids catastrophic ecosystem changes. Ecosystems provide important goods and services, however ecosystems have thresholds, and continued supply of these benefits requires humans to manage their activities within these limits (Limburg et al., 2002). Human welfare and economic stability are strongly linked to ecological wellbeing, and the major objective of an EBFM approach is to ensure that ecosystem goods and services are not eroded as a result of human activity (Brussard et al., 1998). Marine ecosystems can be impacted by fishing and other marine sector activities. The uptake of sophisticated technology has allowed the development and expansion of fisheries, and as a result there are fewer natural refuges. A sectoral approach to management fails to take into account the cumulative effects of multiple users and uses and their associated impacts.
Many marine fisheries are in decline and the effects of fishing on other ecosystem goods and services are beginning to be understood and recognised. Managing these impacts will require a much broader understanding of ecosystems and human systems than has been encompassed by traditional, single species fishery management
(Ecosystem Principles Advisory Panel, 1999). Marine ecosystems are subject to natural variability that can affect productivity and the abundance and natural mortality of fish stocks. Fisheries management needs to recognise this and adjust harvest strategies accordingly. EBFM requires fisheries to take into account the wider ecological aspects of ecosystems. This approach aims to provide a holistic understanding of the ecosystem in terms of an interdependent system with emergent properties of its own (Brunk and Dunham, 2000). Impacts on ecosystems can be due to natural variability or due to anthropogenically induced changes. A major challenge is in differentiating between the two because often natural changes or fluctuations in the environment occur
simultaneously with the anthropogenic induced changes (Richardson, 2003 pp. 284- 286).
The economic and social dimensions respond to a range of different internal and external drivers, and the dynamic socio-economic relationship may elicit a different response each time. The economic and social system and stakeholders are grouped and organised spatially at the local (individual, household, community), sub-regional, state, national, and global levels. The issues, interests and objectives are likely to be viewed differently by each group of stakeholders at each of these levels. Understanding these views and differences is important in defining the issues and developing proposed solutions. Commercial fisheries supply and demand shortfalls are expected to be filled by aquaculture, but this is not without its own problems. Predicting the future outlook for global fisheries will require details of key parameters of fisheries sectors such as potential harvest; state of stocks; supply and demand; trade; fishing technology; trends and uncertainties; and identifying the main issues and drivers (Garcia and Grainger, 2005).
The purpose of EBFM is to ensure the sustainable harvesting of target fish stock in the long-term, together with a consideration of the wider impacts to ecosystems and other species, and to ensure long-term benefits to fishers and communities are maximised. As the sustainable exploitation of fisheries and other marine resources within an EBFM framework requires an understanding of the ecosystems, consideration of the economic and social dimensions, are equally important, as sustainability depends on
understanding how humans and their institutions interact with ecological systems. These dynamic interactions, and wide spectrum of interrelationships and drivers, need to be understood so as to maintain the sustainability and resilience of both ecosystems and human systems.
The biosocioeconomic model as developed in this Chapter provided an understanding of the changing ecosystem and human subsystem dimensions (characteristics processes and drivers) and the dynamic interactions and inherent complexity of the system. The descriptive frameworks provide a means for tracking changes within dimensions over time, and to evaluate the status of each, and trends both positive and negative. This is required for identifying issues and underlying causes, and is particularly important in relation to ecosystems when trying to ascertain whether changes are due to natural
variability or impacts from human activities. This information can provide baseline data and the ability to capture important feedback mechanisms between ecosystems and humans systems. For example, how human activities impact ecosystems; how these impacts may result in changes and surprises for human systems; as well as being able to assess the effectiveness of governance arrangements and management measures
designed to mitigate impacts and to manage human activities.
According to Costanza et al. (2001) understanding the links between human socio- economic systems, and bio-economic systems and their characteristics could provide guidance for designing sustainable human systems within sustainable ecosystems. The introduction of EBFM has led to new challenges for governance and management. This is the subject of the next Chapter, which discusses governance and management